Chapter 25: The Hunting Squad
“I! Want! To! Enter! The! Hunting! Squad!”
Fang Zhengzhi’s voice resonated across the entire length of the village square. His voice wasn’t very loud, but it shocked the hearts of every villager.
“Hunting squad?!”
“He said… he said he wants to enter the hunting squad?”
“My God, he’s only seven!”
When they heard Fang Zhengzhi’s words, the villagers looked at one another, not daring to believe what they just heard.
Village Chief Meng Bai was the first to come to his senses. Taking a look at Fang Houde’s seemingly lifeless form, he mouthed softly, “Houde… you have such a good son!”
Listening to the discussion arising all around herm, Qin Xuelian’s body began to tremble intensely. Her beautiful eyes took one look at Fang Zhengzhi, then looked at Fang Houde lying in front of her. Tears instantly spewed from her eyes again…
…
Very quickly, like the wind, news of Fang Zhengzhi wanting to enter the hunting squad found its way into every household in the entire village. When some of the old villager who never stepped a foot outside their houses heard the news, their face were filled with disbelief.
But, Fang Zhengzhi shattering the stone with one fist was something dozens of people saw with their own eyes.
“This is unbelievable, how did Zhengzhi do it? Don’t tell me he… accessed Dao?”
“How is this possible! I bet that stone was already cracked, when Zhengzhi saw his own dad injured, his anger gave him this strength!”
“No matter what, even if the stone was already cracked, to shatter it with one fist is not something a seven year old child can achieve!”
“Yeah! What brute force, this is definitely much stronger than me when I was young!”
Waves of discussion began to spread throughout the village, and the villagers all began to praise the Fang family for raising such a strong child.
However, everywhere the wind blows, there was bound to be some flying specks of gravel.
For one, Mrs Li was extremely indignant: “Isn’t it just brute force? He can’t even enter the Hall of Dao, and definitely won’t be able to pass the eventual Law of Dao examinations, so what if he has strength? It’s still a lifetime of hunting for him!”
Li Zhuangshi also began to worry, looking at Li Huer from time to time and sighing sadly. He himself was unable to guess what he was thinking…
Village Chief Meng Bai sat on the carriage, journeying towards the county, his eyes wandering towards the endless streams of mountains outside the carriage. Distressfully, he brought the cigar he was holding to his mouth, inhaled deeply and breathed out a concentrated puff of smoke.
“Oh Fang family… how can I ever make up to you! It’s all my fault for being so blind, not being able to see the potential of this child. But, it’s already too late, the namelist of the Hall of Dao entrants have already been submitted, changing it… is really too difficult…”
…
In the Fang family household, Qin Xuelian gingerly wiped away the bloodstains on Fang Houde’s body, and lightly sat down beside Fang Zhengzhi.
“Zhengzhi… you… must you really enter the hunting squad?” Qin Xuelian’s expression was complex, after what happened at the village square, even she had no idea how to discuss with her own son.
Treat Fang Zhengzhi as an adult? But he’s only seven.
Treat him as a child? This also seemed somewhat inappropriate. This was because he was about to become a hunter entering the mountain, the lifeline of the entire Southern Mountain Village…
“Yes, mum!” Fang Zhengzhi nodded. He knew what Qin Xuelian was thinking, but, there are things that he had to do. Now that Fang Houde had fallen, he must stand up. At this time when his family was in peril, he must support it!
“But, you are now only seven…” Qin Xuelian spoke somewhat hesitantly.
“Mum, don’t worry, I will take care! Moreover, didn’t village chief already say? Now that I entered the hunting squad, all the animals I hunt belong to me. Now that dad is injured, how can he live without eating any meat?” Fang Zhengzhi reassured his mum.
From a logical point of view, he knew what he did was somewhat impulsive. Dangers lurked everywhere on the Cang Ling Mountain, even though he managed to gain some breakthroughs, but it was still impossibly difficult to defend himself against any large predators he would meet.
Most importantly, he had completely no fighting skills to defend against the wild beasts, in his past life he never even fought with a dog! Now he was to suddenly start hunting wild beasts?
That didn’t even seem right.
But, after making this decision, he had never regretted.
And what was extremely fortunate was that the villagers in the Southern Mountain Village were indeed rather simple-minded. Coupled with the priority of Fang Houde’s injury,even though he did something that stunned the entire village, nobody suspected how he suddenly became so powerful.
Now, the next problem was how to enter the mountains, how to survive long-term on the mountains, and how to stay safe while still being able to hunt animals.
Fang Zhengzhi somewhat understood the hunting techniques of the Southern Mountain Village hunting squad.
An extremely rigid method, setting small traps at some path junctions, then, the entire hunting squad sticking together as a group, wandered about the Cang Ling Mountain and shot down animals with bows and arrows.
Nothing could be more primitive than this!
This wasn’t the method Fang Zhengzhi wished to employ, because if any large beasts were encountered, the entire squad would be in danger. If luck shone on them, they might be able to maintain this for one or two months. But, can they maintain this for a lifetime?
A few of the elderly villagers were ridden by old injuries, some even missing an arm or a leg. These were the consequences!
He had to change this hunting strategy!
Fang Zhengzhi went into deep thought. How can I hunt down animals, yet preserve my own safety? Moreover there is another hidden danger, that’s the Blue Fire Wolf that constantly roamed the outskirts of the Cang Ling Mountain!
As Qin Xuelian looked at the frowning Fang Zhengzhi, her lips moved slightly.
“Zhengzhi, actually, a few days ago I found an ingot of gold…”
“Mum, leave that gold to take care of dad!” Fang Zhengzhi knew what Qin Xuelian wanted to express, since he had already stood out, he didn’t try to hide any further.
“You… you know…” Qin Xuelian couldn’t conceal the shock in her eyes anymore, then she remembered that day when she saw the “dumpling” kid on the stage. She suddenly understood.
As she looked towards Fang Zhengzhi, her expression became extremely complex.
“Zhengzhi has grown up…”
“Mum, don’t worry, you can leave this family to me!”
Fang Zhengzhi didn’t say anything further. He knew clearly that he had to step up sooner or later, it was just a matter of time.
Cang Ling Mountain? Blue Fire Wolf! Heard that the pelt of the Blue Fire Wolf… is worth quite some money. Then, let me take a look at what you are truly capable of!
…
Half a month later, one morning…
Dressed in cotton clothes, Qin Xuelian carefully prepared a leather jacket for Fang Zhengzhi.
The Cang Ling Mountain was filled with deadly and poisonous insects and one cannot dress too thinly when entering the mountain. At this moment, Fang Zhengzhi was wearing thick-soled leather shoes, a pair of leather gloves, and a leather jacket that extended to his thighs. He even wore a leather cap on his head.
From afar, he couldn’t be differentiated from a small mountain beast.
Although…
His attire was filled with patches!
After a period of rest, coupled with the herbs the village chief purchased from the county, some of the lightly injured members of the hunting squad had more or less recovered. Fang Houde could also get up from his bed and take a few slow steps.
“When you enter the mountain, if you encounter any huge beasts… hide at the back!” Fang Houde’s voice called out from inside his room.
Fang Zhengzhi was slightly taken aback. Knowing very well his dad’s simple personality, it required great courage to say these words.
“Dad don’t worry, I will always hide behind!” Fang Zhengzhi carried up his large basket, then hid a small dagger in his leather shoe and stepped outside the door.
“Zhengzhi, you didn’t bring a bow…” As he left, Qin Xuelian called out.
“I don’t know how!” Fang Zhengzhi twitched his mouth.
“Zhengzhi… blade… you didn’t even bring a hunting blade…”
“I don’t know how either…”
“This… you didn’t even bring anything, how are you going to hunt?”
“I have this!” Fang Zhengzhi pointed at the basket he carried on his back, then took out the dagger he concealed in his shoe, and dangled it in front of Qin Xuelian…
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